Heavy metals availability for corn cultivated in a latosol sucessively amended with sewage sludges

Abstract

This study carried out in order to evaluate the effect of sewage sludge (from Barueri: industrial and residential sewage, and Franca (SP) State: residential sewage) doses on soil heavy metal contents and their availability to corn. Three successive experiments were installed in a Latosol at the Experimental Field of Embrapa Environment, in Jaguariúna (SP), from 1999 to 2001. The treatments investigated consisted of: control (without sewage sludge); mineral fertilization (NPK) recommended for corn; and application of both sewage sludge sources to supply one, two, four and eight times the N dose applied in the NPK treatment. It was quantified the total (soil, leaf and grain) and available (DTPA and Mehlich-1) contents of Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. Barueri sludge application increased the heavy metal contents extracted by DTPA solution. The total contents of heavy metals in soil are higher in plots fertilized with Barueri sewage sludge in relation to those quantified in areas treated with Franca sludge. When leaf and grain are analyzed, DTPA and Mehlich-1 solutions are effective in predicting the availability of Zn to corn pants.